STUTTGART (dpa-AFX) – After the Federal Constitutional Court’s budget ruling, Prime Minister Winfried Kretschmann believes a debate about the future of the debt brake is necessary. “It is worthy of all honor to conduct a debate about how to make the debt brake more investment-friendly – and it is being conducted,” said the Green politician on Tuesday in Stuttgart.
The debt brake was thought up and written in a completely different time. “Today we live in a world that is partially falling apart,” said Kretschmann. There are major investments in infrastructure that are not directly economically worthwhile, but are still important for the national economy. He cited the development of a hydrogen network or the energy transition as examples. “You can’t just say you can’t talk about the debt brake.”
“I am a big supporter of the debt brake and we are not questioning it,” said Kretschmann. But you have to ask yourself what a debt brake could look like that would enable investments in infrastructure.
Last week, the Federal Constitutional Court declared a reallocation of loans worth 60 billion euros in the 2021 federal budget to be null and void. They were approved to deal with the Corona crisis, but should be used for climate protection and the modernization of the economy. The Federal Ministry of Finance has now blocked numerous items in the federal budget./dna/DP/jha